When you have a head buzzing full of stuff whirling around and life is being a bit full on. Your attention has become divided increasing the seeming chaos around you. Where do you start with EFT when it gets like that?

We each have a threshold, a quantity of chaos that we can handle before it spills over into our lives. When the amount of data coming in is at great volume and at a speed too great to properly concentrate with the attention that is required we become overwhelmed. This is likened to a rain barrel that fills with water, on the rainiest of days it is possible for that rain barrel to over flow. We each have a rain barrel. EFT is like turning on the tap at the bottom and letting some of that water out before it gets too much. When applied over time we get a bigger rain barrel

When you are in the moment, everything is a drama it’s very easy to forget EFT even exists. Applying EFT can be tricky at times and when you are enraged, upset or overwhelmed, EFT may be the last thing you want.

This is fine.  It’s ok to howl now and then. That is far better than squashing it all down and not expressing it. After, when the dust settles and it’s time to tap just close your eyes and take a note of what is going on inside. The first thing you notice, where you notice it and how it acts, write it down and use it within a set up affirmation and start tapping through the points. Why not go back to basics and apply Gary Craig’s “Ham Sandwich” including the 9 Gamut. These keystone basics are really powerful in moments of crisis and come into their own allowing stillness and peace to return to what was tight, dense, fraught energy.

It does not matter where you start. The secret to good EFT is to start and keep going. EFT needs to be used for it to make a difference and you can start using it on anything you feel, think or sense.

When I start to tap I sit calmly in a quiet space and close my eyes, looking inward I notice what’s there and If, for instance I am restless and want to do something else, I tap on that.

“Even though I feel restless and do not want to do EFT right now I deeply and completely love and accept myself”

After a round I check in and adjust my set up for what else is going on. I keep tapping until I am happy just to be, feeling relaxed and peaceful or I break out laughing and feel great. That’s when I stop and put the kettle on, have a really nice cup of tea and start living again.

The important thing is to really tune into the problem and be very specific on how you create your affirmation. Ask you self how you know you are feeling like that. In a future post I will give some good questions you can ask yourself to help you get specific.

Applying EFT routinely and being specific on the issues you work on are what make all the difference. Life is there to be lived and lived to its fullest with all it’s passions. It’s ok to be angry and overwhelmed now and then just live it fully, own it and use EFT to clear the way and pretty soon you will find yourself in the situation where you are a complete mess inside everything is going everywhere and someone compliments on how calm and composed you are being.

We all have patterns in our behaviour, things that repeat over and over which have an odd sense of familiarity or doom about them. Removing these patterns can open the way to new freedoms allowing our choices to stick. Part of doing EFT and other energy work is bringing up to awareness many behavioural patterns that are within our consciousness. Clearing these patterns comes in stages from no choice to total choice that form an energetic journey.

How do we become aware of our emotional dramas and patterns of behaviour? Observation is key. Vital tools are of course EFT to keep on top of the emotional energy brought up upon this journey and Mediation so as to become aware of you in a peaceful non reactive state.

The reasons why behavioural patterns are so confining is due to the amount of emotional energy they generate. Emotions compel us to act. This is usually a survival reaction and not a considered response. We tend to react the same way each time. A human being’s actions are only predictable when in fear thus patterns of behaviour are blindly controlled by our impulsive emotional state. Discharge this emotion and we get considered choice back.

First off we may reside in a place where there is no perception outside of self. Here it’s their entire fault or “they made me do it”. Excuses and self justifications abound like “Look what you made me do”. The world is defined in unshakable absolutes. It’s kind of brutal here and anything that does not fit a black and white frame it gets distorted until it does. Nothing can really be done at this level of awareness as nothing is perceived to be needed to be done. Insight is lacking and self deception is rife.

The next stage is one where we look around and we see consequences. There is wreckage and we start to self recriminate. Here are the beginnings of responsibility, we know what we have done and we still identify with our behaviour but we are able to own our behaviour.

After this comes the desire to change, taking on of responsibility for what we do, yet we still identify with our behaviour so this stage can have guilt and other emotions running  through it. It is important to know that it is not us that needs to change it is our behaviour.

Next there is alertness. We start to watch ourselves and our behaviour. There is a desire to understand, to fathom the mysteries of what’s going on. We soon learn that we are not our behaviour and we pull identity out of our behaviour. Our behaviour becomes “our stuff”.

Within our behaviour we start to find structure, triggers, things that repeat, synchronicities, most of it baffling but none of it is us and conversely if as part of our pattern we have people we oppose it’s important to know that they are not their behaviour either. The world is now becoming colourful rather than back and white.

We get sucked back into our drama. There is still a lot of energy around it so it will happen again. At some point within our drama we awaken to it.  We remember and notice that this is it, this is the  pattern acting right now. This is akin to being in the eye of the storm, there is a sense of peace yet the world spins in darkness around us, we can only watch. We find the lack of choice despite the ability to know what’s going on perplexing yet it’s important in this space just to let everything be ok, it will unfold, so watch, vowing to remember as much as possible.

Once it’s over the extra information is processed. Energy work here is vital. Apply EFT, the energy starts to leave the patterns old wrongs turn to compassions as deeper understandings unfold. Healing starts and freedoms are won. You will be tested again but for now concentrate of fully exploring the whole pattern tapping over and over on the emotions that come up, who knows what is there to learn and where your EFT sessions will take you.

Then life will go on and one day, bang! You’re in it again. There will be a temptation to react but there will be no energy behind it.  Look upon the triggers of your old pattern with compassion there will be new outcomes and never before dreamed of spaces. Time to act consciously, do something new, you can always choose to repeat the old pattern if you want or you can choose to leave the behaviour behind forever seeing the people involved for the first time.

Once the pattern is gone we perceive anyone involved in our pattern differently, they are no longer their behaviour. We see them properly. We see ourselves properly. We now have more choices and greater freedom.

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Fantasitc, borrowed from http://www.firstpeople.us/

Good energy management through EFT helps with the battle between our wolves.

An issue or concern that is flaring up in our field of view can bring such enormous attraction to it. Energy pulls us into actions and reactions that in a normal mind we would not consider. A drama ensues the consequences of which cannot be seen from within.

Standing in the aftermath we look back uncomfortably with a wince and ask ourselves “why did I do that” or “how did that happen”. The details are sketchy, the feelings are bad.  Then the recriminatory feeling that comes from the prospect of taking responsibility for what was in the heat of the moment an out of control act brings us to deflection, we make excuses and try to duck out from the horror. This way we ensure the action becomes a pattern and is bound to repeat again.

If we stop and really take a look at what happened using EFT to discharge the build up of emotional energy that drives us to deflect we can begin to see what it was that pushed us over the edge in the first place.

With a bit more tapping to discharge the energy that this revelation brings forth we may learn what was behind the reaction. This can bring huge relief as old trapped emotion is discharged. Continuing to tap through the EFT points gradually discharges more layers of trapped emotion, what comes up is more lost and forgotten information, We no longer see it in absolute terms of good and evil, instead we gain insights into deeper motives and possibilities that were missed at the time allowing for a more realistic estimation of the actual event. This gives us freedom from the need to react in the first place.

When we next find ourselves in the same situation, if we have done our EFT well, we find a curiosity and a feeling of choice. No longer are we pulled into a heavy sense of blinkered determination tinged by importance and need instead we are expansive and light-hearted being able to see all the variables without the huge push of emotion we instantly make the correct choices and we respond rather than react.

The result of being able to choose is enjoyed by all. Hostilities are calmed, upsets healed. We do not pass on our pain for others to then pass on into the world. We no longer have a patch of memory that makes us wince when we touch upon it. This is a freedom of a kind, a very important one.

Not only can we feed the good wolf with EFT we can actively starve the bad wolf.

I live in a bubble, I really do!

I may have chosen the dates for the swap group without any consideration for what’s actually going on in the world. Megan of UK Medicines Advisory Service (UKMAS) kindly pointed out that I had scheduled three dates to clash with bank holidays and even the Queens Jubilee.

The dates have been revised for April, May and June. They have been put on the Practitioner Group page here

I hope these new dates are a little better for everyone.

M

New swap group dates for the first part of 2012 have been posted here

2012 is off to an exciting start.

I will be working with the-breathing-space.org throughout 2012 bringing EFT to events, festivals and adventurous locations all over the place. This looks to be a lot of fun.  More details will appear here in my blog and on the breathing space website as they evolve

Bringing EFT to communities and sharing what is essentially emotional first aid and a life skill is what I want 2012to be about. Allowing others to learn that emotions don’t just have to be put up and struggled through. Emotions can be improved and negativity dropped. It’s important to be an optimist right now. Our consistent thoughts become our reality and there has already been far too much doom and gloom. Things will be brighter and better, whatever is perceived to be in the way.

Happy New Year

Hi There,

Firstly thanks Stella and everyone for a great February group. I love the Human Design specials, such a fresh look at things.

This month’s group will be held on the 26^th March. We are really lucky to have Sue Tapper of Positive Inpact as our guest speaker. Sue is a regular with the group and a good friend.

Sue has worked as a Nurse for 18 years pioneering the use of complimentary therapies within the NHS with great success. Sue has brought EFT to some extreme environments including Prison working directly on prisoners with EFT on a wide range of issues such as drug addictions and violent behaviour.

Sue’s experience with extreme and difficult clients is an inspiration, one which she is happy to share. This plans to be an informative and fascinating look at handling reversals and getting EFT across effectively. I cannot wait. Come along it will be great to see you.

Sue’s website http://www.positiveinpact.org/

As usual there will be ample chance for questions as well as EFT sessions, although last time this fascinating subject took over the entire meeting the interest was so strong. Refreshments are provided all for £20.

Let me know if your coming, please send an email to mark@birminghameft.com

Birmingham EFT

SWAP Meetings – The year ahead

Dates for 2011

Saturday 22^nd January

Saturday 19^th February

Saturday 26^th March

Saturday 16^th April

Saturday 21^st May

Saturday 25^th June

Saturday 23^th July

Saturday 20^nd August

Saturday 17^th September

Saturday 22^th October

Saturday 19^th November

Saturday 10^th December

9.30am – 1.30pm

The Meeting Room, Fentham Hall, Marsh Lane, Hampton in Arden, Solihull, West Midlands B92 0AH

(Ample Parking)

Meet up with friends and get some good tapping done.

Happy New Year, I have now got confirmations of the dates for the Birmingham SWAP group Meetings for 2011.

There is a lot packed in to the meetings over the 4 hours. We usually get 3 sessions of good length in as well as ample chance to chat and swap notes with other practitioners. Most of all the morning will be very constructive and a lot of fun. Refreshments are provided all for £20.

There will be guest speakers delivering specialist information on many informative topics throughout the year which I will announce closer to the time. For January were going to blow the winter cob webs away with some straight tapping then at the February meeting Stella will be back with another informative introduction to Human Design.

To book your place, please send an email to mark@birminghameft.com

I look forward to seeing you

Much Love

Mark Whitehouse

Welcome to Birmingham EFT.

Website in development…

Growing, improving over time…

Comprising of:

• A place arrange one to one EFT Tapping sessions ,
• Forthcoming trainings in EFT: Level 1, 2, Advanced Level 3
• News of Supportive regular Birmingham EFT Practitioner Maintenance (SWAP) group meetings
• EFT Introduction days

I will also maintain a blog here, sharing many tips, supportive instructions with free resources to those new to Emotional Freedom Techniques and experienced trained therapists alike.

Watch this space